The Artist
by Lady Marianne
Summary: One Shot After the sinking, Rose moved to Santa Monica thinking that Jack's dead. But what happenes when she is talked about an intriguer artist? Why is he so similar to someone she used to know? R&R!


The Artist

Based on some situations origin by J. Cameron

Rose was walking through one of Santa Monica's busiest streets. It was full of small markets, so it was common to see tons of women doing their shopping. There was a small library too, but no one used to care about it.

However, that day was different. At the beginning Rose saw a commotion and thought it came of one of the markets, so she was shocked when she saw that the library was crowed with women.

"What's going on?" she asked to one of them when she was able to entered into the small shop.

"Do you know Jack Calvert? No? He is a great artist, very good. You should see one of his drawings. Anyway… He wrote a book recently. People say is terrific and today it came here, so we are here to buy it." The woman said "Oh, you should see him. His even cuter than his paintings…"

Rose said thank you to the woman and then walked outside. She started to think about this Jack Calvert. She was shocked when she heard that there was a new artist that she didn't know that existed. She had always loved art, she used to know almost everything about artists, but now… How come she didn't know there was a Jack Calvert who everyone seamed to love?

There was a simple answer to that: the name. Jack…

It had been more than 2 years since the Titanic disaster. Rose had moved on, she had left New York and moved to Santa Monica, where Jack had promised to take her. She had also changed her name to Rose Dawson so no one could find her. In fact, a few days after the Carpathia reached New York port, almost all the newspapers informed that Caledon Hockley's young fiancée died on the tragic night of April, 14. She had a decent job as a waitress in a bar, but she saved everything she could to go to Hollywood and try to make it as an actress.

From the outside Rose was a normal middle-class girl. None of her neighbors knew that she still cried herself to sleep every night. The truth was that she couldn't even hear about someone named Jack without wanting to cry.

She arrived to her house still thinking in the man she had once loved. A woman's voice brought her back to reality.

"Rose, it's that you?" it was Mis Bloom, one of her neighbors. "Come here. I want to show you something." She said pushing the girl into her own apartment. "I heard you love art, don't you? Take a look at this. What do you think?"

The drawing she was being shown was, indeed, exquisite. It remained her to somethin, but couldn't quite place it anywhere. It was a landscape, just a landscape. It showed the Statue of Liberty from a very funny angle, so it was probably drawn from a ship.

"What do you think?" the old woman asked again.

"Well, I think it's great… Who's the artist?"

"Jack Calvert. Have you ever heard about him? I suppose no. He's quite new. He hasn't been in this business for 2 whole years. His drawings a very expensive. My son send this to me from New York for my birthday. Isn't he adorable? Rose, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm alright. I was just shocked. I can't believe I hadn't heard from him till today!"

"Aha. He has a new book, too. Have you heard about it? They say it's not perfectly written, but the story it's heart-breaking. I bought it, so I'll lend it to you once I finish."

They said good-bye to each other and then Rose return to her apartment, thinking in this famous Jack Calvert. That drawing… there was something strange about it, but what was it? Was it what it showed? She had seen the exact angle of the Statue when coming in the Carpathia. But that wasn't weird. Tons of ships arrived everyday to New York and people on all of them could see the statue from that artist's point of view. What was it then? She hadn't seen another drawing from this man, had she? No. since the sinking she didn't care for most of the things she used to. Art had disappeared from her mind.

She decided to do the same with this so called artist, take him out of her head. The drawing was good, but so were many drawings. There wasn't anything special about this Jack Calvert.

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"Here's the book" Ms Bloom said one morning.

It took Rose several minutes to understand which book was her neighbor referring too. She had been dreaming about Jack when some knots at her door woke her up.

"Which book?" she said as she tried to concentrate on the woman standing in front of her instead of her lost love.

"The one I promised to you. Jack Calvert's book."

The girl had almost forgot about it. It had been two weeks since she had seen the painting and she hadn't thought about it again.

"They were absolutely right. The story… Oh my god, you must read it. It brought tears to my eyes. I wonder where he came up with this idea. It isn't real, it can't be real! Anyway, read it. You'll love it, trust me. I must leave now, see you!"

Rose closed the door and looked at the book. She had heard several people talking about it and all of them came to the same conclusion: a heart breaking story. She couldn't believe how a book could cause so many people the same felling. A book that wasn't even well written.

She looked at a clock and found out that it was 8 in the morning. That was her free day at work and had planned to sleep till almost noon, but Jack Calvert wouldn't let her do that.

She decided to read the first few pages, so not to let down Ms Bloom. She sit at her bead and started to read:

Chapter One: A lucky hand 

_John was sitting with his friend Tony in a bar near Southampton's port. There was a big ship ready to leave to America. John wished he could be in that ship. He had been born in the USA and wanted to come back home. His friend was Italian and also wanted to go to the USA. But that was a dream, because they couldn't afford two tickets, specially in a ship as luxurious as the one they were watching. But their luck was about to change._

_Two men approached to John's table and offered to play a hand of poker. They said the needed cash because they were leaving to America. They accepted and they played. Tony put the few bucks they had saved and the other two bet the only thing they had: their tickets._

According to what she read, John and Tony won and they were able to board the ship. Chapter two was called 'A vision' and the name of chapter three was 'The dinner'. In chapter two John, who seamed to be the lead character, had fallen in love with a first class girl and saved her when she had tried to kill herself.

Rose skip lunch that day. She was so focused in the story that she didn't care. The last chapter was called 'The sinking', and it was heart-breaking. Apparently the ship had sank. John was able to survive, but the girl, Josephine, had died. The story ended there. It didn't say what happened to John, what he did once the ship which had picked him up docked, but Rose had an idea.

That night she couldn't sleep. That story was way too similar to her own story, but from Jack's point of view. How could that be? Jack was dead, wasn't he? Could she be Josephine? No. Josephine died. But she died too. The Rose Jack had met was dead. It was so confusing that it could be true. Rose decided that she was imagining things, but… It couldn't be just a coincidence, could it?

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Ms Bloom had the gift to show up in the worst moment possible. This time Rose was opening her apartment's door when the old lady almost knock her down of shock when she appeared from her own.

"You'll never guess who's coming! Oh my God I'm so happy!"

Rose said she didn't know and entered to her flat.

"Jack Calvert!"

The youngest almost fall again.

"Are you sure?" she asked

"Absolutely. By this time next week he'll be here. I wonder why he's coming here. I don't care. I'll get him to sign my book. Oh, I think I haven't been this happy since my son graduate from high school!"

But Rose wasn't listening anymore. She hadn't told Ms Bloom that she thought she was Josephine. It was just a stupid coincidence. But now that the author was coming… Everything was different. She would meet this Jack Calvert and make sure that it wasn't the same Jack she had known.

The week went by quicker than Rose would have like. According to Ms Bloom, Jack would arrive on a Monday, but it was Wednesday and no one had seen him yet. The girl was starting to believe that it wasn't true that he would go. She even doubted that he really existed.

That afternoon she decided to take a walk through the pier. Jack had always talked about it and Rose had found out that he was right. She grabbed her coat and left her house.

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The sun was setting and everybody was hurrying back home. Almost everybody. A tall blonde-haired man remained sitting in a bench watching the sun over the water. The deep ocean… When he was a kid he used to love going with her parents to Santa Monica and swimming in the ocean. But that had changed.

He hated it now. All he had left in the world was taken away from him by the ocean. It had been more than 2 years since that, but he still felt miserable. He blamed himself for what had happened. He kept thinking that he could have done something. But what?

He couldn't drive a ship and he couldn't prevent that she hit an iceberg. But he could certainly have done something for Rose. His sweet Rose. Why did she have to die? He remembered the last minutes he was with her. The ship was going down and they were in the back of it. Jack told her to take a deep breath and to try to get out. He also told her to hold tightly to his hand. But she didn't. Suddenly, Jack didn't fell Rose's hand anymore. He looked around but he couldn't see her. Finally he was able to reach to the surface and shouted her name, but no one came. She had died.

Jack stood up and started to walk. He was wearing a hat so no one would recognize him, because he was a very public person, not only for his drawings but also for his book.

He had never been much of a writer when he was young. In fact, he didn't even like to read very much. But one day, a year after the sinking, he took a pen and started to write. Words just came to him. It took only 2 days to finish the book, only two days. Once it was done he read it and discovered that he had written his story. His and Rose's story.

The book was very successful. Everybody used the same word to describe it: heart-breaking. Jack was happy that people thought it was like that, because he felt that way. Heart-broke. Once he lost Rose, he felt as everything was lost. He even handle the possibility of killing himself, but he remembered what he had told Rose when she was the one wanting to end with her life and changed his mind.

There were only few people left in the in the pier. Almost everybody was sure at their homes eating dinner with their family. "Lucky them", he thought. Unexpectedly, something caught his eye. It was like fire. But it couldn't be fire, it was moving. What was it? Jack followed with his eyes and found out that it was someone's hair.

He had know only 2 people who had hair that red. But non of them could be in that pier that afternoon. Ruth Dewitt-Bukater was too rich to be there and her daughter was too dead. Nevertheless, Jack followed the woman. He had nothing to lose, anyway.

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Rose stopped walking and looked into the ocean. She wanted to curse it and make it disappear. It was another ocean, but it was still a great amount of water all together and she hated it for that.

Suddenly she heard someone following her. She walked quicker and so did the person behind her. She was about to turn around and tell him to stop when she realize that maybe it was someone from her past (Lovejoy? Cal?) who had finally found her. She was starting to run when she heard a young woman's voice. She wasn't talking to her, but she felt a cold wind through her back when she heard it.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you Jack Calvert?" she asked to the man following Rose.

Jack curse under his breath. He couldn't believe his luck. He was about to find out if the woman standing in front of him was Rose and a girl had to appear. She couldn't be more than 20 years old, he thought. She gave him a book and a pen and he sign an autograph. Then she walked away.

Rose heard her leaving, but she didn't move. So… Jack Calvert was behind him. Would she dare to look? Ever since she read that book she had been dreaming that she was Josephine and that Jack was the author of that book. But it was impossible, wasn't it? There was only one way to find that out. She had to turn around. She took a deep breath and faced the man.

"Mr… Mr Calvert?" she asked.

Jack was shocked. Didn't she recognize him? Then he realized that he was still wearing his hat and his face was covered with his coat.

"Well… I supposed you could call me that." He said. He was about to show himself but he thought it twice. It was Rose, he was sure, but it had been two years and he wanted to know what he thought about him.

That voice… Rose knew it so well. No, she was dreaming. That wasn't Jack. If he were he would have taken that hat out so she would know him.

"Mr Calvert… I've read your book and… and. Well… let's just say it's incredible similar to something I've been trough and…"

"And you wondered where I took the story from?" Jack completed "It just came to me. Did you like the story, Miss…?"

"Dawson. Rose Dawson." Jack smiled to himself. "Yeah, I liked it very much."

"Thank you. So… did your husband happen to read it?"

"No" she whispered, holding back the tears. What was this man doing? "No. He died."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." Jack was enjoying himself. He knew that Rose would be very mad at him, but he had to know what she had been doing. She had taken his name, that was a great signal.

"Well, Mr Calvert…"

"Jack" he said.

That was way too much for her. It was just like Jack, her Jack. But then… she had an idea. It was kind of stupid, but…

"Jack. May I ask you another question? I saw one of your drawings, the one of the Statue of Liberty, you know? And some of the people, the angle of it… I don't know, everything I guess, remained me from the time I came to America. Do you think it's possible that we were on the same ship and we missed each other?"

Jack smiled. She knew. She had recognize him but didn't want to have false hopes.

"Well… I'm sure about that. I guess you were in the Carpathia, weren't you?"

"I was, indeed." Rose would have jump to Jack's arms, but she gave it a second thought. It was pretty clear that he had already recognize her, but he rather stick to his game. Well… she was going to do the same. She replied "Jack… Mr Calvert. That was all I wanted to know. Thanks for your time." And she started to walk.

"Rose, wait." Jack shouted. He took his hat out and run to where Rose was, but she ran too.

For five minutes, they ran through the pier. People looked at them and talked. Than Jack, who was getting tired said in a loud voice.

"Well, I suppose that means that you don't want me anywhere near you, right? Goodbye, Ms Dawson." He turned around and started to count to five under his breath.1…2…3…4…

"Don't you dare doing that to me." Rose's voice said from behind him. "Suddenly you're the victim? I don't think so."

Jack turned around and said.

"Victim? I'm not pretending to be the victim."

"Good."

"Good."

The two of them looked into the other's eyes, unable to say anything. After a pause, Jack said:

"What a hell have we been doing? It's been two years and we were playing? What's wrong with us?"

Rose smiled and replied:

"Well… I believe Mr Calvert had something to do with it, don't you?"

He also smiled and got closer to her. He had waited too much.

"Oh my God, I've missed you! I thought you were dead! I'm so sorry." He said

"I've thought that too. I looked all over for you, Jack, I did. I didn't see your name in the list so I thought the worst. I fell so stupid, I should have never changed my name."

"No, Rose. It was perfect. You couldn't keep your name. I should have imagine that and check under another name. I was the stupid one, Rose."

"Let's just say we both were stupid."

"Fine by me. But it doesn't matter whose fault it was. We're together now and nothing will come between us, right?"

"Right."

They kissed each other and everything was good again. The ocean, the people, everything. They started to walk to Rose's house.

"Wait until my neighbor sees you" she said "She wont believe that my dead husband is that famous Jack Calvert."

"Right… husband. I don't think it's good to lie to the neighbors."

"What do you suggest? That I should tell her that we live in sin?"

"Actually… I was thinking in other thing."

"Is this a marriage proposal?" she asked.

"No way" but when he saw her face added "I know women. I know they must have a very romantic proposal and all that. Don't you deny it. I will ask you to marry me, but not today… just wait."

"So… I was going to invite you to my place, but I guess that it would be wrong, wont it? You know… Neighbors." Jack could sense a little anger in her voice.

"No. I just say that we can't be seen."

They both smiled and went to Rose apartment, where no one saw them.

One week later, Jack propose. He took Rose to the pier one night and in front of the ocean he asked her to be his husband with a big diamond ring (he was now almost as rich as Cal). It was very romantic.

A month later, all the newspapers published the news: the great artist Jack Calvert married Rose Dawson. People all over USA commented the event. But Jack and Rose didn't care. they wanted the whole wild world to know…

They were married for more than 50 years, until they died. They had 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys, all of them named after people they knew in the Titanic. The last girl was called Ruth, after her grandmother.

Jack didn't published any more books, but he kept with his drawings. Rose became a very successful actress and worked in several plays, even after having her children. When Rose had to work, he would take the kids to watch her.

After they died, they returned to the Titanic, where everybody was waiting for them and they spent the eternity together.

The end


End file.
